Friday, March 25, 2011

Kernel update to 2.6.38.1-2-desktop

Today the notification applet indicated that there were "some" updates.
Besides the final Firefox 4.0 update all the kernel packages also had a new version.
In the past, kernel updates were not always hassle-free especially if you had VMware software installed.
So I really wanted to know if these issues were still present and pressed "Update"

After the reboot, everything came back to life without any problems.
Even the VMware modules were compiled automatically without problems
Real progress...
Nice work!

Screenshot that shows some more information

I think it is about time to upgrade the Macbook...

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Installing VMware player 3.1.3 (or Workstation 7.1.3) on OpenSuSE 11.4 with 2.6.38 kernel

In my previous blog I showed how to install the latest kernel (2.6.38-1) on OpenSuSE 11.4 and that it works very well.


Now, installing VMware products on linux is not so easy as it used to be because you need to patch some files before you can build the necessary kernel modules.


This is a quick howto to install the VMware player 3.1.3 but it should also work with Workstation 7.1.3



  • Download VMware-Player-3.1.3-324285.x86_64.bundle from the VMware website and put it in you /tmp folder
  • Install the following extra packages using YaST: kernel-source, kernel-syms, make,patch  and gcc
  • Download the following patches (I found them on the VMware community forums) and put them in your /tmp folder
  • Go to a terminal with root privileges and type the following commands
    • cd /usr/src/linux
    • make mrproper
    • make cloneconfig
    • make modules_prepare
  • Run the bundle installer (go to a terminal and type "sh /tmp/VMware-Player-3.1.3-324285.x86_64.bundle") and go through the wizard. The automatic compilation will fail.
  • open a root terminal and run "sh /tmp/patch-modules_v62.sh"
  • This will
    • patch files
    • start compilation
    • finish the VMware installation
You should now be able to start VMware Player from your Application Menu


P.S. When you are using the XFCE desktop you also need to enable the HAL daemon service before VMware Player will start. Just enable it through YaST.


Saturday, March 19, 2011

Preparing to upgrade

11.4 was release a few days ago and before upgrading my main working environment I decided to give it a test drive on a Dell D630 with Intel Graphics.


Installing openSUSE-11.4-DVD-x86_64.iso on this machine was no problem at all.
The installer resembles the 11.3 version and I made the following choices:
- XFCE desktop
- Install using images
- Disable firewall
- Disable IPv6
At first boot, everything seemed to work. There were no driver issues and all the Dell buttons seemed to work.
Wireless networking (Intel 3945ABG) worked using NetworkManager and both hibernate / standby modes worked without any hick up.


To test things further I added some extra repositories to add software like XBMC,Chrome,Flash Player, VLC, DVD-support, sun-java and the latest kernel 2.6.38-1 (including the "Wonder Patch")
This is my repo config for now.
Another reboot and the grub menu showed 2 kernel versions (2.6.37 and 2.6.38) and I choose the latter.
Because I only upgrade the kernel-desktop package the computer stopped when trying to mount the drive.
I rebooted back into 2.6.37 to upgrade all system packages in the Kernel repo to the new version using YaST2:

When booting, the Grub menu now only shows the latest kernel (with a safe mode option) and the machine starts without any problem.

Let's test this setup for a while before upgrading the Macbook...

Friday, March 18, 2011

Hello World

This is a tech-blog about my primary linux distribution: OpenSUSE

Why?
Because there is a new version (11.4) and I wanted to create an as-built document for future refence....

Why not a personal file?
Because I wanted to share my thoughts with other people...

Why is this page so "green"?
Because SuSE artwork guidelines are available for any color you like, as long as it's green...

Now that we know each other we can start this blog!